KEI VILLAGE COMMUNITY MEMBERS CLAIM BACK THEIR LAND FROM GOVERNMENT AFTER FAILED WATER DEAL

Patrick Okaba

Nebbi. The frustrated communities surrounding Kei Primary School in Juapngira sub county, Nebbi district are claiming back their land they donated to construct Namrwodho gravity flow treatment plant after the school was disconnected from accessing piped water.  

The  community  members said, they donated part of the school  land to  construct  Namrwodho gravity flow scheme water treatment plant in 2013  on an agreement by the minister of state for Water and environment  that the learners shall in return access free  piped water.

The community claims that the school is being charged to access piped water contrary to the agreed plan.   

Nicholas Okello one of the community members who was one of the executive members of Kei village when the Alwi dry corridor gravity flow was being commissioned confirms that the school was promised free piped water during the ceremony. 

 “We want the school to be reconnected back because we donated the land to construct a water treatment plant which is supplying the whole lower belts of Padyere and Pakwach but the school which is only 20m is disconnected,” Okello said.

Chellina  Fualal  another  community member says they have reached out to district authorities to establish the reason why the school was deprived of free piped water but this has not yielded any positive results. 

“Since the school was disconnected from piped water, it has become hard for the school administrators to control the flow of learners looking for drinking water in the down streams,” she says.

The head teacher of Kei Primary school in Jupangira sub county Salmon Owektho Oyiki says the disconnection of piped water from the school has led to the drop of some learners from the school. He says that majority of girls have left the school due to lack of access to water for menstrual hygiene.

Owektho added that due to lack of clean and safe water at the school, for the last two weeks, the school experienced an outbreak of diarrhea as most learners were affected.

He said that Kei primary school has a population of 940 learners with daily water usage of at least 10 Jerecyans and the accumulated water bills of 500,000 shs which needs to be offset.

 “We need to be considered by the company currently managing Alwi dry corridor gravity flow scheme to offset the bills since the school cannot afford to offset the bill”, Owektho said.

However, the area supervisor Northern Umbrella of water and Sanitation  company  currently managing  Namrwodho  gravity flow scheme  Charles Cwinya-ai says, they  received undocumented  concerns from the surrounding community members  that  the school is entitled to free water but insists that they have to first produce  documented evidence from the district.  

 He says that an accumulated water bill of 500,000 shs of the school has been offset and they have been told to pay 20,000 shs as reconnection feee.

 Meanwhile the District Chairperson Nebbi district local government Emmanuel Urombi says there should be a fresh memorandum of understanding between the ministry of lands and environment stipulating the terms of the partnership between the school and water project in order to address the impasse.  

The disconnection of piped water at Kei Primary School by Northern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation Company currently managing Namrwodho gravity flow scheme was raised by the community members during monitoring exercise to CSOs towards the anti-corruption week championed by Action Aid International Uganda (AAIU).